EDWARD CLARK. 
287 
the Capitol extension, Mr. Clark was brought by him to 
Washington as his assistant and superintendent. 
This occurred in 1851, when Mr. Clark was 29 years old, 
and destiny held him here in constant connection with that 
world-renowned edifice until the day of his death, 51 years 
afterward. 
On July 4,1851, the corner-stone of the Capitol extension 
was laid with due ceremony under arrangements of which 
he had immediate supervision. 
While engaged during the ’50’s on the Capitol he also 
superintended, under Mr. Walter, the extension of the Patent 
Office building and the construction of the new general 
Post-Office building opposite. 
During the Civil War work on the Capitol was at times 
suspended, and in the intervals and under the critical and 
exciting conditions then prevailing in the community Mr. 
Clark had charge of the construction of all military hos¬ 
pitals and barracks in the District, with sometimes five 
thousand men at work under him, and also acted as Con¬ 
sulting Architect to the Quartermaster General of the Army. 
Otherwise the work on the Capitol extension northward and 
southward and on the great new dome, beginning in 1851, 
continued without important interruption until finished, in 
1867. 
Mr. Walter resigned in 1865, and on his recommendation 
Mr. Clark was appointed his successor, with the same title 
of Architect of the Capitol extension, which continued prac¬ 
tically unchanged until his death. In this capacity he had 
charge of the care and maintenance of the Capitol and 
grounds and all work of repair and improvement. The 
building itself has remained essentially unchanged, except¬ 
ing some minor interior alterations; but Mr. Clark carried 
out during his long term of office the designs of the eminent 
landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, for the beauti¬ 
ful and extensive system of dwarf walls,'drives, and walks 
throughout the Capitol park and the marble terrace around 
the north, west, and south sides of the building. 
